Iran president set to leave for NYC to attend UN meeting

President Rouhani will leave Tehran on Monday to attend the UN annual event, where he is scheduled to deliver a speech on September 25.

On Sunday, the Iranian president held talks with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the Leader wished President Rouhani success during his trip.

Moreover, the Iranian president is expected to hold talks with world leaders on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting.

Iran has ruled out the possibility of a meeting with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN meeting.

On Wednesday, the Iranian administration’s spokesman, Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, said President Rouhani has no plan to meet with Obama.

The 69th annual session of the General Assembly opened in New York on September 16 and will end on October 1.

The UN event comes as Iran and the five permanent members of the UN General Assembly – Russia, China, France, Britain and the US – plus Germany are holding a new round of negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attended a working lunch session with EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, in New York to review the latest developments concerning the talks aimed at reaching a final accord on Tehran’s civilian nuclear work by the November 24 deadline.

Zarif leads the Iranian delegation and Ashton represents the P5+1 states in the ongoing nuclear negotiations.

In July, Iran and the P5+1 agreed to extend the negotiations until November 24 this year after they failed to reach common ground on a number of key issues.